Sunday, September 6, 2009

JUST LISTEN: MICHELLE SHOCKED (PT. 1)

Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston) is the daughter of a carpenter and was raised as a Mormon. She grew up in Texas and received her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas in Austin.

She took on the name Michelle Shocked after being arrested in 1984 at a protest during the Democratic National Convention in San Diego, California. The name was a play on words meant to resemble "shell shocked." The front cover of Short Sharp Shocked features a photograph of her in the chock-hold of a San Fransisco policeman that was published on the front page of the San Francisco Examiner.

Her first album, The Texas Campfire Tapes, was widely received in Europe. Her second album, Short Sharp Shocked was her breakthrough in the US, being played on college radio stations throughout the country.

In 2002, Shocked established her own label, Mighty Sound, and reissued expanded versions of her previous albums.

2009 saw the release of her no-frills rock and roll album, Soul of My Soul.